Changing the wood stove’s antiquated format.
The Wood Stove Decathlon was created to focus more interest in designing the next generation wood stove. Clean burning, efficient stoves are becoming ever more important as the use of wood for residential heating hasincreased by 40 percent since 2004and because wood is the primary source of heat for roughly 2.3 million U.S. households. In Europe, wood heat has been popular for well over 500,000 years and is still ‘the’ primary source of renewable energy.
Today’s Wood Stoves Waste Too Much Energy
Currently the majority of wood stoves in use deliver only 40 to 50 percent of the energy potential of the wood, this is highly wasteful. But on a bright note, many of the prototype models entered into the decathlon squeezed out more than 90 percent of the wood’s energy potential and burned much cleaner than older stoves.
The 14 finalists were judged on the following:
- Innovation (10 points)
- Market appeal and user friendliness (10 points)
- Affordability (10 points)
- Emissions (10 points)
- Efficiency (10 points)
The 14 finalists that were invited to the 2013 competion were Dragon Heater, Firemaster, Helbro Stoves, HWAM, Intercontinental, Kimberly, Mulciber, Ofenbou and Feurerstellen, Smartsove, Travis, Tulikivi, Walker Stoves, Wittus, and Woodstock Soapstone.
Wood Stove Decathlon Results
Woodstock Soapstone won the $25,000 first prize. The $10,000 second prize was shared by Wittus-Fire by Design and Travis Industries.
Winners for individual categories were HWAM for innovation; Travis Industries for lowest carbon monoxide emissions and also for market appeal; IntensiFire for affordability; the University of Maryland’s Mulciber for lowest particulate emissions; and Woodstock Soapstone for efficiency.
The event was sponsored by the Alliance for Green Heat, the U.S. Forest Service, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, and industry groups seeking to improve the efficiency of wood-burning appliances.
First Place, Grand Prize
Woodstock Soapstonewon with the Ideal Hybrid, an affordable, very high efficiency stove with very low emissions. The steel hybrid currently has the lowest “high burn” emissions on record. The stove uses an advanced hybrid combustion design incorporating both catalyst and secondary combustion. It has variable and self-regulating air/fuel ratio in order to maximize combustion efficiency and minimize emissions at all burn rates.
To prevent warpage of metal, to focus the heat on combustion and to store heat, the Woodstock Hybrid islined with 1.125” thick soapstone on the side walls and contains firebrick on the inside bottom.
Thecatalytic combustorpoints at the top and front of the stove and therefore captures the heat in the stove body, rather than allowing that heat to be lost up the chimney.
The Steel Hybrid has a secondary combustion chamber that is angled making the outlets visible from the viewing window. The display of secondary combustion is always visible, and there is an almost infinite variety of secondary pyrotechnics in the top of the firebox depending on the burn rate, amount of fuel, and damper settings. Secondary combustion is mesmerizing and it also cues the operator/owner to understanding the amount of combustible material in wood smoke that would have otherwise gone up the chimney. Read more about catalytic reaction and secondary combustion here:woodstove.com
伍德斯托克的老板汤姆·莫里西(Tom Morrissey)说:“我们实际上是在制造一个气化炉。”“当它燃烧时,如果你观察它,你会发现它的火看起来并不像你想象中的柴火。整个火箱的顶部像一个倒置的煤气灶;有120个洞,每个洞里都有一根火焰管。”
The Ideal Hybrid stove is not yet available, but you canreserve one.
这款炉子将配备定制切割的钢炉架、炉边和各种油漆面。
Woodstock stoves are made in New Hampshire.
Tied for Second Place and Lowest Emissions Prize: Travis Industries, Inc.
The Cape Cod™是洛皮的“超级炉子”,拥有80%的效率,每小时只有0.45克的排放,使它成为美国市场上测试的最清洁的燃烧木材炉子。这个炉子有一个3立方英尺的巨大的壁炉和对流热交换器,是用耐用的铸铁设计的。
The stove’s先进的二次燃烧系统和催化辅助是使这个炉子如此清洁和高效的原因。一个对流室围绕着火箱。房间空气通过后对流室,然后通过对流通道进行循环加热。然后热空气从顶部对流室排出。可选配的风扇推动对流空气通过炉子,大大改善了房间的传热和空气循环。科德角重近600磅。温度可达2500平方英尺。约。4000美元。
洛皮炉灶产于美国华盛顿州。
Lopi is a subsidiary of Travis Industries.
lopistoves.com
Tied for Second Place: Xeoos TwinFire
The Twinfire’s double-chambered combustion system is like no other.
Twinfire, a German import, heats wood to 1,400 to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (760 to 980 degrees Celsius) until it gives off flammable gases, which form a yellow blowtorch of flame that shoots downward below the grate that holds the wood. The gases burn cleanly and thoroughly. The patented Twinfire is 93 percent efficient, as tested byOMNI Labs, Portland, Oregon.
气化是将碳基材料(这里指的是木材)转化为可燃气体(主要是一氧化碳和氢气)的过程,方法是在一定数量的氧气下对燃料进行高温加热。气化过程的结果是一个污染最小的高效热产生器。
In the Twinfire, the fire is started in the upper burning chamber. When enough flames and heat have built up to over 1800 degrees Fahrenheit, the handle is pressed down, and the heated gases pull down into the lower chamber and ignite into a blazing fire. These gases are reheated to create an almost total combustion with 93 percent efficiency anda low emission rate of 2.4 grams per hour.* The lower chamber is the exterminator that burns any remaining ash down to tiny bits.
TwinFire手工打造的车身由4毫米厚的钢板制成,前框为铸铁,火盒内衬为蛭石,火盒的地板由特殊的耐火粘土制成。活动地板和炉排由耐热不锈钢制成。Xeoos燃烧与正常的烟囱通风和出口可以放在顶部或后方。
The TwinFire retails for $5,900 for the base-level model, but could save hundreds of dollars a year on fuel. Heats up to a 1000 sq ft area. Imported into and showroom in Pound Ridge, NY.
Made in Germany.
U.S.:www.wittus.com
In Europe:xeoos.de
IntensiFire wins for Affordability
The IntensiFireis a downdraft metal insert that can be retrofitted to fit inside nearly any traditional wood stove. It can transform a dirty, old wood stove into a clean-burning, efficient stove.
IntensiFire was the only retrofit option in the design challenge. For the competition a 30 year old Treemont stove was retrofit. The IntensiFire placed 2nd for affordable low emission technology and third for innovation.
Jason Stewart of New Zealand is the inventor. Jason says “Why buy a new stove when for just a few hundred dollars you can install an IntensiFire insert and make your old stove perform like new? You’ll deliver up to 60 percent more heat into your home from the same amount of wood, so you save money using less while also lowering your carbon footprint. For the true conservationist, you also save the energy and resources required to make a new stove and dispose of your old one.” It will bring the benefits of secondary combustion air to older stoves that don’t have this function. Baffles are no longer required and the cost of the IntensiFire is around the same as the cost of a replacement baffle.
Jason在他的网站上分享说,在测试期间,有几个测试设备测量到的强度火的排放为零。
An added benefit of the IntensiFire is that it concentrates the energy of the fire and can cleanly burn 30 percent moisture content wood, or even higher if the pieces are cut smaller, provided that the stove is warmed up on dryer wood.
目前产于新西兰。425美元。
www.facebook.com/Intensifire
The Dragon Heater
Their Helix stove is a hybrid of a traditional wood stove and arocket heater. It utilizes a traditional firebox with horizontal feeding of the wood including a glass door for viewing the fire. Then, it uses the turbulence and an internal stack (or secondary burn chamber) from rocket heaters to produce very hot, optimized burns.
龙加热器没有完成他们计划的十项全能原型机。相反,他们带着一个桶状火箭加热器进入。但他们目前出售的内室(核心)套件,可以面对你的选择耐火材料。他们打算在不久的将来在市场上有一个带窗户的混合木炉/火箭炉。您将能够面对混合与石头或其他耐火材料。他们网站上有很多潜在构建的例子。城堡建造套件售价为600至1075美元。See:dragonheaters.com
The importance of turbulence in burning wood.
The fire in the burn tunnel consumes the solids and releases the wood’s volatile compounds. In addition to an insulated combustion zone, the Dragon Burner increases efficiency by insuring that all the exhaust gases are adequately mixed with oxygen from the supply air by creating turbulence.
An 8 inch Derrick build kit costs $1095.
Made in Texas.
www.dragonheaters.com
Intercontinental 2B4W
The 2B4W wood stove designed by Rod Zander is a type ofmasonry heaterthat is constructed from recycled materials. It consists of two used steel oil barrels stacked on top of each other, inside the barrels heat is stored in 35 feet of masonry channels which are made up of 3000 pounds of stacked high density firebrick. The recycled barrels are a low-cost solution for the exterior that also provides structural integrity. In a typicalmasonry stove, 50 percent of the cost is for the facing and the structural material. Rod thought about potential usage in the developing world while designing this stove. Not yet for sale, but hopefully Rod will sell plans in the future.
By Rod Zander of
New England Hearth & Soapstone, Goshen, CT
The company also sells a portable masonry heater.
www.rodzander.com
Ofenbau & Feuerstellen
This is an Austrian Kachelofen (tile stove) with a combustion chamber that received the Eco-label of Austria. The Eco-label sets stringent emissions limits and the highest energy efficiencies known in Europe. This tile stove incorporates this eco-labeled combustion chamber technology for cooking and heating. It achieves low emissions through the way the air streams into the inner body of the stove. Team Captain, Richard Jussel states that “the air streams into the inner body of the stove through a tight baffle or damper situated in the stove’s base, and it branches through controlled slits into the combustion chamber.”
Company: Ofenbau & Feuerstellen
Individually hand built.
Website: www.feuermacher.com
Location: Austria
Tulikivi
– means firestone in Finnish.
Tulikivi entered with their Hiisi 4 hybrid heat-retaining fireplace using soapstone which releases heat more slowly. The Hiisi hybrid can use cord wood or pellets without needing an electric hookup, and it meets the world’s tightest emissions standards. The Tulikivi can also heat water.
89/87% efficiency.
Heats up to 800 sq ft.
4000美元。和了。
Made in Finland.
www.tulikivi.com
Kimberly Stoves
The Kimberly is portable and can be taken from boat to cabin to RV and into the home. The patented technology of the burn itself is also very different. The bottom flame is kept around 450 to 500 F. That means that the fuel load will slowly release its gases, which are then reburned in an inferno in the top end of the stove. These temperatures often exceed 1500 F, ensuring that the Kimberly has a near smokeless emission. Most stoves today have a single flame path which is elongated by adding secondary combustion air halfway up the path, whereas the Kimberly has two completely separate flames. $3750.
42,500 BTU/hour
Capable of heating up to 1500 square feet.
Burns up to 8 hours on a load of fuel.
Easy install that saves you money.
Use top as a cook top.
美国制造的不锈钢。
Ten inch diameter! 56 pounds.
See their Katydid stove as well!
Made in Oregon.
www.unforgettablefirellc.com
The Walker Stove
The Walker Stove combines the best features of arocket mass heater, a masonry heater, and a wood stove. It utilizes the unique burn chamber of a rocket mass heater to completely burn the fuel. The metal radiator, like a traditional wood stove or a rocket mass heater, radiates intense heat to the living space. The flue gases are routed through a masonry mass to allow the slow release of comfortable radiant heat over a long period of time. By coupling such an efficient burn and a fast-acting metal radiator to a system of heated mass-thermal storage, the Walker Stove offers unparalleled warmth and comfort from an amazingly small amount of wood. The combustion core can reach over 2000 degrees F.
它的下半部分绝缘很好,摸起来很安全。伍德托克皂石购买了原型马特进入了挑战,新闻是他们在交流设计技术。
Currently built to order. Cores available as well.
华盛顿州天使港。
Watch Matt’s video:
walkerstoves.com
Read More About The Wood Stove Decathlon
Alliance For Green Heat:forgreenheat.org
- National Geographic: Winning Wood Stove Designs Announced
- The New York Times: Contest Aims for a Cleaner-Burning Wood Stove
- People’s Choice Award from Popular MechanicsPopular Mechanics Finalist Q&ABiomass Magazine
Currently 13 percent of all soot pollution in the United States comes out of wood stove chimneys. So, in early 2014, the EPA released standards that would require all new wood stoves to burn 80 percent cleaner than today’s outdated wood stove pollution standards. The new standards will be slowly implemented over the course of five or more years. All existing stoves are not affected and can remain in use. All pellet stoves are not covered under the new guidelines either. The EPA is just trying to get the wood stove manufacturers to make cleaner, more efficient stoves. The new standards do not affect existing stoves.
Lindasays
love the twinfire double chamber combustion system want one
ELAINE PRICEsays
要多少钱?你多久需要在上面加一次木头?
ELAINE PRICEsays
要多少钱?你多久需要在上面加一次木头?
John Markssays
What are your thoughts on the Kuma Sequoia wood stove? It has an EPA rating of 84% (putting it at #1 for efficiency).
https://www.kumastoves.com/Store/ProductDetails/sequoia